"I need to talk to you,"
She turns around, arms folded, leaning against her locker.
"Shoot," she tells me.
"Not here! I need to talk to you privately!" I say, indignantly.
"Fine," she says, rolling her eyes, "Come with me,"
I follow her through the corridors of the school, until we reach an empty hallway.
"So, this isn't a hard decision to make," I tell her, looking at my feet, wringing my hands.
"That's what this's about? I'm listening," she says, perking up.
"Well, I've decided..." I start.
I look up into her eyes, and step close to her.
She looks surprised and stumbles backwards.
"If you ever thought I'd agree to something as horrible as that, you've got another thing coming," I whisper into her ear.
"You- I... W-what?" she stutters, before regaining her composure.
"Did you really think it would be that easy to just dismiss me like that?" she sneers at me.
"No, of course not! I fully expect you to try and get this from me with any means you can," I tell her, leaning in closer. "I just came to let you know that I would never betray my friends just to save myself from you. They all mean so much more to me than that."
I smile, making her her eyes widen. But I just turn around and head for the courtyard.
I do, however, catch her next words.
"If that's how you want to play, I bet I can beat you at your own game."
"Can we just walk home today?" I ask Sans.
"Okay, but only because I don't feel like letting you walk home on your own," he replies.
"I walked home on my own on the first day of school," I remind him.
"But I didn't know that! If I had, I would have walked you home," he tells me.
"You two are just way too cute!" pipes up Thalia, who has appeared by my side.
"Are we really though?" asks Sans, "There are a lot of people staring at me like I'm something they peeled off the bottom of their shoe."
"Really?" asks Thalia, turning to a group of kids who are whispering and glancing up at Sans every so often.
"Hey!" she calls out to them, "Find your own monster to stare at! This one belongs to my friend!"
Sans and I blush and step away from Thalia, as the kids look angrily at her.
"Bye now!" she says, waving at them, then running after Sans and I, who hurriedly leave the courtyard.
I grab Sans' hand and start running from her as she chases us down.
I'm looking over my shoulder at her, when I crash into someone. "Seriously?" a familiar voice says, "Watch where you're going!"
"Sorry-" I look up, cutting myself off when I see the face I'm looking into.
She blinks a couple times, and looks me up and down.
She finally turns to Sans and asks, "Who are you?"
"Welp, I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton," he says, extending a bony hand to her.
She grimaces, and refuses to shake it. She looks at his other hand, which is entwined in mine.
Her expression turns sour.
I grip Sans' hand tightly, sweating, as I feel fear and anger race through my body. My heart starts to beat fast. I try to take deep breaths, willing it to slow down.
She follows her gaze up my arm, landing on my face, and her face breaks into a wide smile.
"Frisk dear!" she exclaims, throwing her arms open wide, "Where have you been?"
"Well, I've, um..." I stutter out, heart still racing.
"Really? Is that the way you greet me? Did I not teach you any manners?" she asks, folding her arms.
"Uh, well, hello... Mother..." I stammer.
Thalia's mouth drops open, and I feel Sans' grip on my hand tighten even harder.
"You must be her friend?" she asks Thalia.
Thalia nods, unable to speak.
"Well, you can call me Alex," she tells her.
Sweat trickles down my neck, as the nightmares that were trapped float back through my head, and I grip Sans' hand even tighter.
"Umm, well thanks, Alex?" Thalia stammers, eventually.
Alex turns back to me.
"Why don't you come back home tonight Frisk? Your father and I have really missed you!" she asks me, looking away from Thalia.
"I... I- Um, I sh-" I manage to say before Sans cuts me off.
"Like hell is she coming with you!" he cries, his left eye blazing bright blue.
Thalia's bag starts to tug at her shoulders, as it's surrounded by a blue aura.
My shoelaces are hovering in the air as well, also covered in blue.
Alex's face goes pale and she starts to back away.
Bones fade into existence, revolving around Sans, and his eyes go pitch black.
I scream his name, but he doesn't hear me.
"She is never going anywhere with you ever again!" he growls, panting.
Thalia shrieks and runs over to my side.
"SANS!" I scream his name again, but he still doesn't hear.
"You will regret anything you ever did to her!" he yells, hands now surrounded by bright blue flames.
I throw myself at him, and he looks down at me.
I hug him and start to sob into his jacket.
He blinks a couple times, and slowly, the glow fades from his eye. The bones disappear with a pop, and his eyes turn back to normal.
"Hey, Frisk... You okay?" he asks, wrapping his arms around me.
"Don't do that again Sans," I tell him, still sobbing.
"I'm sorry, but I can't make that promise," he tells me.
"Okay. I understand," I whisper back.
Suddenly, Alex yanks me from Sans' arms and, gripping my arm tightly, she marches me away.
"You are never allowed to associate with psychopathic freaks like that again!" she hisses in my ear.
I don't hear her, as I cry out to Sans and Thalia, reaching for their hands.
Thalia runs after me, but her nimble fingers slip through my sweaty hand.
She stumbles, and tries to catch back up.
I call Sans' name, and he runs towards me, feet pounding on the cement.
Once we're far enough from public eye, Alex turns me around to face her.
"What were you doing?" she hisses into my ear, "You've been gone for weeks! Your father and I had no clue where you were!"
"Let go of me," I say, quietly.
"Address me properly Frisk," she says.
"Let go of me!" I cry.
"I am your mother! Address me as such!" she shrieks.
"You were never my mother," I say, softly.
"Don't treat me like dirt, you little scumbag! I was the one who created your miserable existence!" she screams in my ear. She raises her hand and slaps me across the face.
I fall to my knees, cradling my searing cheek. I look up through my hair and she kicks me in the ribs.
I fall over backwards, ignoring the now small pain in my cheek, and wrapping my arms around my middle.
"Get up," she whispers, viciously, into my ear.
I shakily rise to my feet.
"We're going home," she announces, grabbing my wrist.
I tug it from her grip.
"I'm never following you anywhere again," I tell her, trying to steady myself on my shaking legs.
"You will do whatever I tell you!" she cries, "Because you know the consequences if you don't!"
"You'll never do it to me again," I say, voice quaking.
"I can, and I will!" she says, reaching for my arm again.
I jerk it away, stepping backwards.
"You're just a child, no one will believe you," she says, eyes narrowed.
"Maybe, but I know something you don't," I tell her.
"What?" she asks.
I point a shaking finger over her shoulder.
"There's a skeleton behind you, videoing."
She turns to find Sans waving at her from behind his phone.
The sound of sirens approaches, and we see Thalia running towards us, with three policeman in tow.
One of them races over to Alex, and puts her in a pair of handcuffs.
"I got a video!" calls Sans, waving his phone over his head.
A policeman takes it, and Sans rushes over to me, followed by Thalia and a third policeman.
"Are you okay?" Sans asks, wrapping his arms around me.
"I'll be okay," I grin up at him, "You were amazing."
"Just doing my job," he says, shrugging.
"Your job as what?" I laugh.
"Well as a citizen of the surface, of course!" he says, doing a silly salute.
I laugh harder, then grab my stomach in pain.
"Hey, you might need someone to take a look at that," he says.
"Frisk!" Thalia cries, wrapping her arms around me as well, "Sans tried to explain it all to me quickly, but I still don't understand."
"I'll tell you later," I say, smiling, "Thanks so much, by the way."
"Don't mention it, you're my best friend," she says shrugging.
"Besides," she grins at me, "I can add that to the list of things that prove I'm your bestie!"
"Sure, you do that," I tell her, rolling my eyes.
She giggles and picks up her phone. She hands it to me and says, "Ring Toriel or Papyrus, they might want to know where you are."
"Already done that," says Sans, "They're on their way."
I nod my head as an ambulance officer comes up to me.
He crouches down next to me, checking for any damage.
"Your cheek is okay, it's just a red mark," he tells me, closely examining it.
He helps Sans and Thalia get me onto a stretcher, and then he takes a look at my stomach.
"Where is the pain?" he asks, and I indicate to the place where Alex kicked me.
"Just continue breathing normally," he tells me.
I try to continue breathing, but as I exhale, pain stabs through my stomach.
I cry out, and Thalia stands up straight.
"Is she okay?" she asks the ambulance officer.
"She's fine. There's a small bit of swelling, which indicates that her ribs are either bruised or fractured," he tells her.
He turns to me and says, "They will most likely heal on their own in a month or so, so you won't have to come into the hospital, but you will need to get a lot of rest, try and keep some ice on the bruise, and if the pain is really bad, take this medicine."
He hands me a small orange bottle, filled with a white liquid, which he tells me is pain-reliever.
"Try and lie on your injured side, and take deep breaths," he continues, "Don't wrap your stomach up in anything, as it prevents you from taking deep enough breaths."
I nod my head, and he tries to help me stand up.
"Do you think you can stand by yourself?" he asks me.
I nod my head once again, and I take my hand off Sans' shoulder.
I stumble a little, but I can stand on my own.
A policeman walks over to Thalia, Sans and I, and asks us about Alex.
"Did she ever hurt you before?" he asks me.
"She used to abuse me all the time when I was younger," I reply, "I still have scars and bruises from months ago."
It's hard to talk about my mother to a complete stranger.
"Can I see these bruises?" the policeman asks.
I slowly nod my head, and turn around.
I lift up the back of my shirt, revealing the horrible, ugly, lines, that are embedded into my skin.
"Thanks you," the policeman says, and I turn back around.
"It was said that you had been missing for some time before today when she saw you, she had not reported this disappearance, which is highly suspicious, but we are still wondering where you were," he says.
"A month ago, I was once again, being abused by my mother," I start, quietly.
I don't know if I can tell this story.
Thalia and Sans both put an arm around me, making me feel safer and stronger.
"I decided that my life wasn't worth living," I continued, my voice growing stronger, "So I climbed Mt. Ebott, thinking that I could end my life, and no one would mourn my absence. But I reached the top, and found a hole, leading down so far that I couldn't see the bottom. I called down but no one replied. So, I decided to jump. I fell down through the darkness, until I landed on a bed of golden flowers. I lay there for some time, wondering what had happened. Then a flower spoke to me. It was a monster. It was about to kill me, when Toriel appeared. She took me through the ruins to her home. She informed me that I had fallen into the Underground. I wasn't certain how a life for me could be made in a land full of monsters, so I asked how to leave. She finally told me I had to prove myself to her, and I did. She let me pass through the door, leading into a place called Snowdin. That was where I met Sans and Papyrus, my skeletal friends. They both helped me pass through Snowdin."
I continue on with my story, introducing all my friends, and describing the Underground in detail. Thalia is listening to every word, and Sans is helping me add in parts I'd forgotten.
Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys and Mettaton appear halfway through my story, and realising what I was doing, help with retelling it.
"And then we all headed out of the Underground, onto the surface," I finish, only now realising the amount of pain I'm in after telling the story.
I clutch at my stomach, taking slow breaths, as Thalia gives me a quick hug.
The policeman thanks me for my story, and turns to Sans.
"What is your name?" the policeman asks him.
"I'm Sans," he replies.
"Okay then. Did you know about this abuse before you saw Frisk's mother today?" the policeman asks him.
Sans nods his head.
"Is that why you caused that display out in front of the school?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, um, yeah," Sans said sheepishly.
"Well, it was quite impressive," says the policeman, politely.
Sans looked relieved.
"You won't get in trouble for it, as you didn't harm anyone, and you were doing it for the right reasons, but we will ask you not to do it again," the policeman says.
Sans nods his head.
I laugh, and then instantly regret it as pain engulfs me.
"We will return your phone to you once we've taken a closer look at the video," says the policeman, and Sans nods for a third time.
"Thanks you," he says, and then walks over to the police car.
Toriel hugs me and then proceeds to ask me what's happening.
"I'll explain to you all later," I tell her and all my other friends.
I ask the closest policeman if I can go home.
He tells me that I can't go to see my father, but someone can help us get to our house.
Toriel bends down, and I place my arm over her shoulders, so that she can help me walk home.
The policeman starts to laugh, then asks the ambulance officer if he can drive us home.
I gratefully except the offer, not wishing to walk home.
Toriel helps me into the van, and Sans slips in after me.
Thalia follows him, and Toriel squishes in after her.
The ambulance officer comes in to ensure that we're all safe, and asks for our address.
Thalia holds my hand and I take deep breaths, while I hold my stomach, feeling the bruises swelling up.
I place my head on Sans' shoulder, and close my eyes until we reach our house.
Toriel helps me out of the van, and I stagger into the doorway, still clutching my chest.
The ambulance officer places my arm around his shoulders, and helps me down the hallway into my room.
Sans appears and helps me to lay down on my bed. I turn onto my bruised side, and the ambulance officer leaves to head back to the hospital.
Thalia comes into my room, and sits on the foot of my bed.
"My parents say I can stay with you for the night if you want," she tells me.
"Thanks," I smile at her, glad that she wants to stay with me.
Sans lays on the bed next to me, and Toriel comes in, dragging with her a small mattress.
"I'm sorry it's not very big, but it's all we have," she tells Thalia, dropping the mattress onto the ground.
She looks over at Sans and I, then leaves the room to look for sheets, lips pursed.
Thalia faces me and asks, "If you don't feel up to explaining about your mother right now, I'll wait."
"It's okay," I tell her, "You have every right to be curious. I only told the first person a week ago."
Sans anxiously rubs the back of his neck as Thalia looks at him.
"Would you have eventually told me?" she asks, so quietly I can barely hear her.
I sit up straight, ignoring the pain.
"Once I was certain that I was safe, I would have told everyone," I say, almost as quietly.
"I trust you a whole lot Thalia."
"And I trust you too Frisk," she replies, giving me a hug.
I continue hugging her until I fall asleep.